World’s largest steam train to stop in PA soon. Here’s when, where and how to see it
The world’s largest operating steam locomotive will make a swing through Central Pennsylvania this July in what the Union Pacific Railroad Company is billing as a semiquincentennial celebration.
The locomotive, a 1.2 million-pound honker known as Big Boy No. 4014, will make stops in Lewistown and Altoona before chugging along to the Midwest. Union Pacific, which operates a large rail network west of the Mississippi River, said it will be Big Boy’s first time on the East Coast since it was built in New York in 1941.
Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said in a press release his company “couldn’t be prouder to share this powerful piece of history with the nation and to be a part of America’s birthday celebration.”
The locomotive is slated for a half-hour “whistle-stop” in Lewistown on July 8, from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m. Then, it will travel through the Juniata Valley and up through Tyrone en route to Altoona, known as the Railroad City.
Big Boy will be in Altoona for three and a half days. First, it will stop downtown at the Railroaders Memorial Museum for a whistle-stop from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m. on July 8. The next two days, it will be open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The public viewings are free and non-ticketed, with shuttles from Peoples Natural Gas Field just south of the city available.
The locomotive will depart Altoona at 9 a.m. on July 11, heading west to the area’s famous Horsehoe Curve for a sold-out event. Its next major exhibition will be in Fostoria, Ohio on July 14.
Big Boy will be accompanied by “several historical passenger cars from Union Pacific’s Heritage Fleet,” and newer locomotives commemorating Abraham Lincoln and the nation’s 250th anniversary, according to Union Pacific.
Altoona will be one of eight major stops made by the locomotive on its East Coast swing. Two others will be held in Pennsylvania: Scranton from June 15 to July 1 and Philadelphia from July 4 to July 6.
